only a mother could love

English

Etymology

From the instinctual love that a mother has for her offspring.

Phrase

only a mother could love

1. Used to describe someone or something very unlovable or repulsive.
   • 1995, Nancy Pickard, Confession, page 5:

     There was an interesting face beneath the spots, I thought as I looked at him, but at the moment at which fate rang our doorbell it was still a face only a mother could love, which was a problem for the boy on our doorstep.

   • 2009, Tyler R. Tichelaar, The Only Thing That Lasts, page 164:

     Mark was someone only a mother could love—but I did feel sorry for his mother.

   • 2013, Lori Duron ·, Raising My Rainbow:

     Sometimes, when he does something that only a mother could love, I get scared.

   • 2016, Amy Newmark, Chicken Soup for the Soul:

     It was a wreath only a mother could love.

   • 2019, Ian Brennan, Silenced by Sound: The Music Meritocracy Myth:

     It was a song that only a mother could love.

   • 2021, Michio Kaku, The God Equation:

     The resulting animal, it was said, was one only a mother could love.